The project "Making voice and Presence a Virtual Realistic Experience" is funded by “HessenHub - Network digital university teaching Hessen”. At the Center for Foreign Language and Occupational Competencies (German: ZfbK) at the University of Giessen, a teaching concept for student teacher training was developed that includes both the learning and use of a physiologically sound voice and offers transfer to professional practice. For this purpose, a virtual classroom featuring avatars of noisy school children was developed. The teaching concept includes exercises on breathing, posture, articulation and physiological voice enhancement at the syllable, word, sentence and text levels, up to spontaneous speech. Utilizing virtual reality (VR) headsets, student teachers practice these exercises in a realistic classroom environment under the guidance of a speech scientist. The ultimate objective is to enable future teachers to naturally and physiologically modulate their voice in professional settings.
Technical implementation relied on contemporary, agile software development methodologies. After extensive online research, specific software tools were chosen for successful project execution. This paper discusses both the technical approach and the software techniques and tools employed.